New curriculum is an ‘insult’

A historian who advised the Government on the new national curriculum has urged teachers to reject it saying the final document is “insulting and offensive”.

Professor Simon Schama said the new history syllabus was written by people who have “never sat and taught 12-year-olds in a classroom”.

The curriculum proposes to teach children history in chronological order and aims to give children a sense of the triumphs of the British people. But Professor Schama warned that the proposals were too focused on the achievements of white men.

He urged teachers at the Telegraph Hay Festival to reject the curriculum, saying: “History is not about self-congratulation. History is meant to keep the powerful awake at night and keep them honest.”

A spokesman for the Department for Education said teaching chronologically will help pupils “to understand how key events and people link to and follow one another”.